


Co-write #1

by Artio, Tamix13



Category: Three Days Grace - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Tumblr Prompt, basically just Matt hitting on Neil because he can, some vague shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-24
Updated: 2015-01-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 20:25:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3222284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artio/pseuds/Artio, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamix13/pseuds/Tamix13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "i really want an “i accidentally broke into your house/apartment because my friend lives next door to you and i was in the area, drunk, and i thought i was climbing into the right window and falling asleep on the right couch (and i did wonder when my friend got two cats but i didn’t question it) so now i’m hungover and shirtless in your living room so um hi howya doin” au"</p>
<p>Matt drunkenly sneaks into what he thinks is Brad's house...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Co-write #1

**Author's Note:**

> This was a test to see if this RP sort of style of co-writing could work for a longer fic we've been thinking of for a while now. We chose this prompt because it was short, pretty easy, and who couldn't use more of these dweebs? It wasn't revised much so hopefully there's not too many mistakes.
> 
> Each new indent is another block by each person, starting with me and then Tamix13 and then me again then Tamix13 again, etc.

   On second thought, maybe this wasn't Brad's house. The layout did look pretty familiar at the time, but the banana yellow couch Matt was strewn across sure didn't. Unless Brad suddenly stopped hating the color yellow since they last saw each other. And the thin coating of fur on it sure didn't fit his petless brother's place either. Matt managed to lift his aching head up enough to look around at the rest of the room. Besides the shirt he had stripped off and thrown on the floor after deciding it was way too hot in the middle of the night, there was the usual set of living room furniture with more pieces in the fur-dusted obnoxious yellow, along with enough sound equipment in one of the corners to run a small club. A few piles of clutter and trash dotted the room, including some beer cans that were a brand neither Matt nor Brad had ever liked. The evidence was mounting that this was the wrong place Matt had drunkenly snuck into the night before. But what really convinced him were the two pairs of very displeased, very cat-like eyes glaring at him from atop the TV stand. 

   Matt eyed the cats as he carefully sat up on the couch, rubbing his aching head. Maybe drinking so much was a bad thing after all if it landed him in the wrong house in the morning, and he  _was_ sure it was the wrong house now that he was slightly less hung over. The layout of the furniture was all wrong, as were the two cats now cautiously circling around by his feet. That left the question of whose house it actually was and where they were that they hadn't found Matt in their house yet. Matt got up slowly, giving his aching head a chance to adjust to the change in height, and slowly wandered over to the table, where a pile of mail was resting.

   Though it was a little eerie to be seemingly alone in a stranger's house, at least there was no one there to see him almost trip over his own shirt. He reached for one of the unopened envelopes and read the name and address in the corner. The good news: he wasn't far from Brad's house. In fact, he was just a little ways down the street from it. Bad news was he didn't know a Neil Sanderson, and chances were they didn't know him either. His still recovering brain was a little too quick to tell him to make a run for it. Maybe it became instinct after all the early morning sneak-outs he had done up to that point in his life. He let the envelope flop back down onto the table as one of the cats silently leapt up to the space besides it. It gave Matt a bit of the creeps to think that the two furballs might've been watching him sleep the entire time. But as long as their owner didn't pop in before Matt could slip his shirt back on, open the window, and slither out, they'd all be good. 

   Of course right as he was thinking that, the door opened and Matt was caught off guard, this time actually tripping over his own shirt,landing with a pained noise on the floor. The cats scattered at the noise, and Matt heard someone mutter "what did you two do now?" in a fond tone. Seconds later, a tall blond strolled through the door to the living room, only to stop in the doorway, looking startled.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded at the same time as Matt stammered: "I can explain!"

"You can explain? Better be a damn good explanation as to why there's a weird guy sitting shirtless on my floor."

   "Ok, you might not believe this but my brother lives on this same street and last night I was pretty drunk and, y'know, being pretty drunk, I thought it might be a good idea to sneak into his house and pass out on the couch."

"You were here the  _whole night_?"

"You're not paying attention to the important part here." Matt tried to explain.

"The important part is that you snuck into my house and stayed the entire night-"

"No, the important part is that I snuck into the  _wrong_ house and stayed the entire night." Matt huffed, using the couch to sorely pull himself up off the floor. "Look, I was just about to leave, your cats are mad me, you're mad at me, just let me get dressed and I'll be on my way."

The guy, Matt was guessing this was Neil Sanderson, crossed his arms. His arms that looked like he could easily knock Matt out with. "Uh, yeah, no. How do I know you didn't steal anything?"

"Trust me, man. I would never steal anything in this color." Matt glanced at the yellow couch. "Besides, I'm standing here without a shirt on, hung over, and sore from tripping over my own damn clothing, do I really look like I'm in any condition to steal stuff?" 

   "Hey, there's nothing wrong with my furniture, thank you very much. And I could say the same about your clothes. Where were you getting drunk dude, a strip club? At least, I think that's the last place I saw such tight clothes." Matt flushed faintly, suddenly self-conscious about his own half dressed state. "Why the hell are you even half undressed, that's just weird."

"In all fairness, I thought this was my brother's house, making that a lot less weird. It was hot, I was drunk, I took my shirt off; don't tell me you've never done the same." When Neil just looked at him, Matt waved his hands.

"Look, I didn't steal anything, I swear, just let me get out of here, you'll never see me again, and if you do see me, feel free to not talk to me. Trust me, I am thoroughly embarrassed about this whole thing."

   "I'm still not entirely sure if I believe you or not." One of the cats meowed its agreement with its owner. "You just go around hopping through windows of people you know?"

"Well, no, but it's my brother and again man, the whole drunk thing." But Matt saw the still questioning look he was getting. "You know, he's just up the street. If you want you can walk me there to prove it."

"How do I know you're not gonna bolt as soon as we're out the door?"

Matt cracked a wary grin. "You are one paranoid son of a bitch. Take me in your car then. I don't know how else to prove to you I'm not lying." 

It took him a minute to decide, but Neil finally agreed. "Alright. We'll take my car to your supposed brother's house."

" _Supposed._ " Matt mockingly mumbled as he got his shirt back on, now a little more aware of how it fit him. 

   "Let's go then." Matt headed for the door after he had gotten his shoes back on, not noticing the curious once over Neil gave him as he leaned over to get them on.

"Hold on, just one thing." Neil's voice called him back from the door.

"Now what?" Matt asked impatiently. He was tired and still had a headache, and just wanted to sleep in an actual bed, not a random stranger's couch, no matter how hot said stranger had turned out to be.

"Just to make sure you didn't steal anything...come here."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me, are you actually gonna pat me down like some kinda cop? Do you really think I could fit anything in my clothes; I don't think my pants even have real pockets."

"Hey, you can never be too careful when you find some hung over weird guy on your couch because he broke into your house."

"I told you, that was an accident," Matt grumbled, but assented when Neil gave him a look. "Fine, fine  _officer_ , do what you please."

   Maybe it was a little douchey to face the wall and put his hands behind his head, but Matt figured if the guy was going to give him a pat down he might as well make it somewhat official. 

"You don't have to do that." Neil grumbled, but started quickly patting Matt down anyway.

"Just trying to be compliant, sir." Matt earned himself a slightly too harsh pat for that one. 

After Neil was satisfied that Matt wasn't trying to smuggle any of his obnoxiously colored stuff out, Matt turned back around from the wall. "You wanna do a strip search while we're at it?"

"No, please, you've scared my cats enough." Neil gave him a worried look over like Matt might just strip anyway. "I believe that you're not taking anything right now, but we still have to see about this brother of yours."

"Alright, but it's your loss." With a shrug, Matt started following Neil to his garage.

The keys jingled in Neil's hand as he closed the garage door behind them. "What's your name anyway, smart ass?" 

   "I'm Matt. Matt Walst." Matt gave Neil a winning smile. "And I don't believe I've officially apologized for accidentally breaking into your house so...I'm sorry about that." Neil rolled his eyes.

"Yeah whatever kid, just don't do it again."

"Oh well now I might have to just to piss you off." And should he go the full nine yards? Might as well.

"Plus you seem pretty hot when you're pissed."

   Neil stared at him with blatant irritation. "Are you really hung over or do you have a concussion?" 

"If I say I have a concussion will you not give me an actual one?" Matt settled in to the passenger seat.

"Not looking good." He was starting to wonder if this guy could get any more fed up with him. "Now where does this brother of yours supposedly live?"

"Just drive straight and I'll let you know when we're there." Matt dismissed. He'd rather spend his time irritating Neil than actually directing him. "So where's your girlfriend and why isn't she taking care of her cats?"

   "They're my cats, I don't have a girlfriend," Neil gritted out. He was really starting to get irritated with this kid. "Seriously how much of an asshole are you?" Matt grinned.

"So you don't have a girlfriend? Does that mean that flirting with you is justified?" Honestly now Matt was just having fun picking on this guy, though at the same time he did kind of want to buy him a drink for having to put up with Matt's shit.

   "You know, you're not really helping your 'accidentally' snuck into my house case right now." Neil shot him a sharp look. 

"Well we're almost to my brother's house anyway so you'll see." Matt reached his hand into his pocket, pulling out the somewhat crushed pack of cigarettes it held.

"Absolutely not."

"What?"

"No smoking in my car." Neil hissed. 

"Why not?"

"Because it's my car and I told you not to. And we're almost to your brother's house anyway so you can wait."

Matt could appreciate the sass, at least it meant he really was getting under this guy's skin a bit. Maybe it wasn't exactly helping his case but hey, on the other hand maybe it made him seem a little less suspicious. After all, what thief would turn around and hit on the person they're allegedly stealing from?

But just as Matt was about start his next round of asshole comments, a truly familiar house came into view. "That one, on the left. That's my brother's house."

   "Well finally. I was starting to think I'd never get rid of you." Matt grinned.

"What you don't like me?" he asked, batting his eyelashes up at the blond. 

"No, you're rather annoying." Neil parked in front of the house that Matt had pointed out. "Now let's meet this brother of yours."

   The walk up to the front door was unfortunately, in Matt's opinion, silent. Neil didn't even glance at him, just crossed his arms and waited while Matt knocked on the door. He half thought of sneaking into the correct window this time to mess with both of them but figured it wasn't worth the risk. 

It took Brad an almost painful amount of time to answer the door. "Oh, hey, Matt."

"Hey!" Matt grinned and gave his brother a quick hug. "Hope it's ok if I stop by. Was in the neighborhood."

"Yeah, you know it's no problem. But, uh," Brad looked at Neil, who was still standing off to the side of the entryway, "I thought we agreed none of your... 'friends' were allowed over." 

   "Oh, funny story," Matt started. "You see, I was pretty fucking drunk last night after that party I said I was going to and I WAS going to sneak into your house and sleep, but instead I accidentally snuck into this guy's house instead, and now he thinks I'm a thief, please tell him I'm not a thief, Brad."

"He's not a thief, he's just my stupid little brother that likes to get too drunk sometimes and apparently likes to sneak into houses that he thinks are mine." Brad gave his brother a look and Matt grinned sheepishly. "Seriously, just how drunk were you that you didn't realize that it wasn't my house?"

"Uh...well yeah I was pretty drunk. But see, I'm not a thief!" Matt said triumphantly to Neil.

   "That's one less strike against you." Neil scoffed.

Matt was mildly offended. "One less? How many strikes do I have?"

Instead of answering him, Neil turned his attention to Brad. "I apologize for taking up your time, but I did want to see for myself if he really had a brother in the area or not." Matt felt like he was in elementary school again, with the teacher telling his parent what trouble he had gotten himself into that day. "Something about seeing a stranger, shirtless, hanging in your living room that makes you pretty suspicious of anything he has to say."

And Brad certainly looked the part of the disappointed parent at that. "Really? Shirtless?"

"It got hot in the middle of the night, ok?" Matt explained, again. He gave Neil a glare. "Anything else you want to get me in trouble for?"

With a self-satisfied smirk, Neil put a hand on Matt's shoulder. "Hey, no one to blame but yourself, kid."

   "Stop calling me kid seriously how old are you, _grandpa_." Matt teased. "But I guess this is sadly where we part ways. Maybe we'll meet again under less awkward and way less chaperoned circumstances." He added with a (very cheesy) eyebrow wiggle. "Cause I'd like that very much."

   "Keep it in your pants." It looked like Neil  _almost_ got a chuckle out of it, at least. "Sorry again."

Brad waved off Neil's apology. "Don't worry about it. You're one of the better people Matt's been brought home by."

Matt couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Uh, harsh." The last thing he needed was his own brother turning against him.

"But true." Brad retorted. 

Out of comebacks, Matt turned to give Neil a small wave before going inside the right house this time. And he remembered the friendly wave he got back when he noticed a familiar blond at the bar a few days later. 


End file.
